Cru Jones Society

I personally hate to run.  I the way I feel about running is the way Jerry Seinfeld feels about dancing.

“I can’t believe we’re going dancing?”
“Why? You don’t go that often?”
“No. Because it’s so stupid.”

Just replace dancing with running and that’s me. The last time I ran was 5 or 6 years ago, and I was trying to catch a bus. My distaste for running will not stop me from watching other people run – especially if it is during the Olympics.

Now if you’re like me, and the rest of the country for that matter, then you tuned in to see Phelps make Olympic history. And he did. And it was fantastic. Right after that though, there was a lot of talk about the upcoming event. That event was the men’s 100m dash, the race that has been dubbed the “World’s Fastest Race.”

The talk of this race was the Jamaicans, Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell. Powell held the world record until Bolt came along and laid the smackdown on Powell’s record. Now they were both competing, along with a third Jamaican, Michael Frater, to bring Olympic pride back to Jamaica.

Watching the race in real time was impressive. Usain Bolt blew everyone away, and set a new WR at 9.69 seconds. With Powell and Frater finishing 5th and 6^th respectively. The last time I was this impressed with a runner was Forrest Gump. But he was more of a distance guy.

Even though the race lasted less than 10 seconds, the coverage managed to drag on for a half hour. First there was the background about the Jamaicans, then the race, and then multiple replays of the race with dissection. There is no way anyone could have tuned in after the actual race and not know what happened.

As the replays were, um, replayed and dissected, we could see that Bolt began to celebrate and showboat well before the finish line. If you ask anyone who is involved with the Olympics they will say how upset they are with this. I agree. This isn’t the NFL; this is a dignified sporting event. Everyone else is giving their all to the finish line, you had better also. We tune in to see athletes perform at their best, and slowing up before the end of the race is not your best. There was an opportunity to make a faster WR that would be even more difficult to break. Ponder that, Usain. In fact, I want you sit in the corner and think about what you’ve done. Consider yourself in timeout, you showboating bad boy.

Another foot race I caught was the women’s 100m hurdles. The hurdles are fun to watch. There’s always that chance that someone will mess up. Hit the hurdle, and tumble out of contention. In this particular race, one of the runners bit it on the first hurdle and went down HARD.

This reminds me of the 7^th grade when we were learning track and field in gym class. We walked out to the football field at Bell Middle School and there were 4 rows of 5 hurdles set up. With a brief explanation and demonstration form Mr. Fairbanks, we were ready to try, or at least he thought we were. We lined up behind the hurdles and went at it. Everyone is doing fine, clearing the hurdles like they’re some old hand at it. Then it was my turn. Run, run, run, jump, tip hurdle, hit ground, and roll. Then I got up and did that 4 more times. Little embarrassing, but that’s how I roll. Literally, I guess…

Now I didn’t hesitate to get up each time and try the next hurdle. Two reasons I did this. First I continued to believe that I could make the next hurdle, and second I knew that it was important to finish. So I didn’t care that everyone around was laughing. I had fun falling over the hurdles.

When I didn’t make it over the hurdles it was in front 20 some middle school kids, which at the time felt like the entire world. But when Anay Tejeda (the chick who bit it HARD)  tripped, it was in fact in front of the whole world. So my heart goes out to her.

There’s no better metaphor for life in the Olympics than the hurdle race. A problem comes along and you have to get over it and move on. So Anay, this is just another problem, another hurdle for you to get over. So stand up, dust yourself off, and get ready for London.

I got a little deep here at the end. Sorry. I guess to lighten the mood you could imagine me falling over those hurdles. Oy vey. And speaking of Hurdles, I stumbled acrosss this.

Nothing like Sports Illustrated from the ’70s to lighten the mood. 

See ya at the podium . . .

lee.s.hart@crujonessociety.com